Christianity Archives - Page 35 of 37

The Problem of Profanity

This is the Thesis of the problem of cursing: The problem with cursing is NOT THE WORDS THEMSELVES, it is the hatred behind the words. Curse words are the verbal manifestation of hatred towards our fellow humans.

Language Warning

Some modern curse words/profanity will be written. This is in order to examine them in context.

Words are words. Why are certain arrangements of syllables and sound frequencies sinful while others are fine?

Break it down to the most simple elements. Are some elements of sound sinful and if so, who gets to decide which ones are evil?

This is the Thesis of the problem of cursing: The problem with cursing is NOT THE WORDS THEMSELVES, it is the hatred behind the words.

Curse words are the verbal manifestation of hatred towards our fellow humans. If love is concern for the well-being of someone else, then hate is indifference or the desire for evil to befall another person.

Curse words are simply that, words that manifests our desire for a curse to befall someone else. Seems obvious.

“F*** That guy” – Manifestation of negative emotion targeted at another human being. That’s all these words are, and they are good for nothing.

That is cursing with regards to mankind, but what about swearing out of frustration?

Most Christian arguments on curse words are weak. Which is why I’m not fully convinced of the sinful nature of words alone or what makes them sinful based on those arguments.

“Don’t say bad words sonny, they are bad” is the way most arguments go. That is a stupid argument. Christians, especially right-leaning conservatives, tend to focus on the words alone, rather than what is behind the words. They are always worried about the symptoms of sin, rarely ever do they track sin to the root.

Yes, taking heroine is bad, but what takes a person so deep into the abyss that they need heroine to begin with? Those are the questions conservatives miss out on. Yes, we are told to not use coarse jesting or language, but who decides what is sinful?

Yes we are not supposed to let any curse come out of our mouth. But how do we know what a curse is? Unfortunately, I don’t see where the Bible explicitly defines that for us. Besides some Old Testament examples where prophets were literally asked to curse people, such as in the case of Balaam.

Yes, we are not supposed to speak idle words, but what in the world is an idle word?

All these questions are difficult to answer, and I am not convinced they can be answered. At least without some level of personal opinion being injected into them. So I will not try to answer them for you.

You can’t say some curses are sinful, and then use some other unknown curse or euphemism that society has not decided is bad and say, “I have not sinned!”. If you are speaking hateful words to a brother then you are manifesting the same hatred towards him that you would if you were using a socially deemed curse word.

You do not have to use curse words to express hatred towards someone else. Speaking in an ungodly way towards a brother, that is the problem. You are manifesting hatred towards the mankind that God wants to be saved, that is the problem. When you use a word or euphemism or alternate curse word, it’s all the same as cursing if the intent behind the word is hatred.

Societal implication

The Christian argument against cursing that claims we align ourselves with the world when we use profanity. When we use profanity, we are in the world and of the world. Instead of in the world but NOT of the world. There is no distinction between us and the world when we curse. This is a problem. We are meant to be odd. Avoiding profanity is exceedingly odd in a modern day society.

Not to mention that profanity is simply socially unsavory. No one wants to be around the guy that swears like a sailor all day. It’s annoying. Don’t give me that nonsense of “Oh I’m a passionate person, I have to curse”. So what? I’m passionate. That doesn’t mean I go around having sex with with every woman I can find to express that “passion”.

When Peter was denying Christ, one of the things he did to show he could not possibly have been a disciple was to curse.

What better way to separate oneself from righteousness in the eyes of others than to use profanity. Cursing is verbal worldliness.

If some words are bad when used in frustration, then all are bad if used in surprise or frustration. It does not matter whether or not society deems them profane. Exclaiming “Rats” upon hearing bad news is just as sinful as exclaiming “Shit”. Maybe these are what constitute “idle words”. Words that are a waste of time. Ones that don’t serve any purpose. Words that are empty and fill nothing are as good as curse words and we will be held accountable for them.

Context Matters

How are words used? What are their context? This seems to be the defining characteristic between a curse word and just a regular word. A preacher states from the pulpit that, “Sin will damn you to hell”. To say that is fine, but to say to an actual person “damn you to hell” is wrong. The logic comes across as shaky. But it seems that the difference here is targeting curse words at another individual rather than making a statement.

*Most popular words society uses:

Fuck – Adj. To have sexual intercourse with

Shit – excrement

Ass – buttocks

Hell – home of the devil and his angels

Damn – to suggest that someone/something be sent to hell

Cunt/twat/Pussy – Vagina

Dick – Penis

Definitely not an exhaustive list, but what do these have in common?

Society has deemed them bad.

People use them to curse each other with.

Why are these words bad? Because society or the Church says so? It’s circular logic. You could argue that some of those are bad based on definition alone, but the others are only bad because of societal implications. I really think that it doesn’t matter what words you use. If you are using them with the intention to curse another man or manifest hate towards him, then you are cursing. Otherwise we can just change letters in these words and they are “okay”, as we have done with euphemisms.

This is the restated point: the problem with curse words is not the words themselves, but the hatred behind the words.

Hateful words targeted towards fellow humans are curse words. The secondary reason is that curse words cause us to be associated with the world, which we are not to be apart of.

At the end of the day, it’s safer to just avoid using these words all together. They are a waste of time, and using them reflects our lack of discipline over our mouth.

“The tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, filled with deadly poison” – James 3:8

Crush Anxiety

Some Christians like to tell you “It’s all in your head, you can think yourself out of it”. People who say that are so stupid that you would have to go out several decimal places just to numerically represent their microscopic IQ.

Anxiety. This is one of those feelings that some Christians think it’s wrong to have. “If my faith is strong enough, I won’t feel anxiety”. “If I’m a good Christian, I won’t be anxious”. “Faithful people aren’t anxious”.

Dead wrong.
Biochemically wrong.
Insipid mentality.

1 – Anxiety can be chemical.

There are different types of anxiety, and some of them can come through a chemical imbalance in the brain. Depression can also be the result of a similar imbalance.

I think chemical imbalances are the minority of anxiety and depression cases, but that does not mean they do not exist. Consider that your problem may be chemical, save up money and get tested by a doctor. Take the guesswork out of life and have a doctor check you out.

2 – Anxiety can be mental.

If it’s not a chemical thing, it could very easily be a mental thing. We give ourselves feedback loops by taking actions that lead to other actions. Those actions eventually lead back to the original behavior. This is represented best in the cycle of how habits are made.

Cue-> Craving -> Behavior->reward-> cue

We do this with our minds as well. One anxious thought leads to other thoughts which increase anxiety. Then we notice our increased anxiety which in turn increases our anxiety. This goes on forever.

3 – Anxiety is irrational, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Some Christians like to tell you, “It’s all in your head, you can think yourself out of it”. People who say that are so stupid that you would have to move several decimal places just to numerically represent their microscopic IQ.

Whether or not it’s “just in your head” does not make anxiety any less real.

You can look at anxiety in a test tube, it’s called epinephrine and cortisol, among other things.

Can you think yourself out of it? Maybe. I think it varies case to case. I don’t think we should elevate ourselves to god-status by thinking we can override biochemistry. Not many people have the indomitable will necessary to break the anxiety cycle by themselves. Even fewer can override their own biochemistry.

Anxiety is real, and it’s more real depending on your personality. People pleasers have greater problems with anxiety because they are always worried about others. This makes it more difficult for them to break out of anxiety by themselves.

4 – Anxiety can cripple a faith.

Mom-bloggers may tell you otherwise, but there is nothing emotional about faith itself. However, faith can be affected by various emotions. Anxiety is one of those, and it is not a constructive emotion. Anxiety can chew up your faith and spit it out. Anxiety gives birth to the dark existential questions about life and about the nature of God Himself.

Anxiety stays awake through the night wondering why God would go through with creation knowing most of it would burn.

Anxiety wonders whether or not God’s grace is real.

“Does it cover my sin?
Is it enough for even me?
Did God mean it when He said that He was not willing that any should perish? He is obviously okay with some perishing, otherwise we wouldn’t have made us to begin with. Who is the God I worship?”

Anxiety causes these questions to never be answered.

How to deal with anxiety.

I’m not gonna sit here and tell you to “pray about it” and then all your problems will go away magically. That’s not how prayer works. God is not a vending machine for inserting your prayers into so blessings will pop out. That’s an irreverent and selfish mindset. God already answered a lot of prayers by giving you a working brain so you can think and figure out your own problems. So here are some practical things you can implement instantly for anxiety.

1 – Medicine.

I know this opposes most Christian agendas, especially traditionalist/conservative ones. But the first thing you should do is see a doctor and find out if you have a biochemical problem. No amount of prayer, faith or Bible study is going to change your brain’s chemistry. While only a small percentage of people suffering from anxiety can actually chalk it up to a chemical problem, that doesn’t mean you aren’t one of them. Get it checked out by a doctor before you do anything.

2 – Cold Showers:

Cold showers, or at least bursts of cold water, can do wonders for your anxiety. Some research suggests that it releases a natural anti-anxiety and anti-depression hormones. Whether that is true or not is up to you when you test it out. When you get hit with the cold water, you are forced to breathe faster. This hyper-oxygenates the blood and makes you feel alive. You may feel slightly light-headed, but not in the nauseous sense. The good feeling after that shower lasts a good while.

3 – Hard weight training or sprinting.

Jogging, aerobics and circuit training are not what you need. You need something intense. Training intensely releases beta-endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers.

Beta-Es are the most powerful of all endorphins, and we can access them through self-imposed pain. Don’t waste your time jogging or doing something light. It will take you forever to get to the point where you have released enough endorphins to make a difference. You have to pass a pain threshold before the body decides to shut down the pain.

Intense training also increases blood flow to the brain, you can literally feel this one when you are done. The problems that were in your head an hour ago? Now you are thinking up solutions to them. You’ve earned the God-designed natural high from working at something. Train every day. Perform some kind of physical activity every day.

4 – Meditation

Note: this may not instantly make you feel better, especially if you try to do it by yourself. Go to YouTube and find a video on “Guided Meditation”. That way someone will walk you through the thoughts you need to have. The video will also give you an idea of what meditation is about. You don’t have to start with much time, two minutes is good. Learn to control your breath, for in breath is the power of life.

5 – Reduce your caffeine.

It’s like asking you to sell a child, but cutting down slightly on soda, coffee or tea will help you. Even if we aren’t anxious, caffeine gives anxiety “symptoms” like increased heart rate, increased blood pressure. And it thins our blood and dehydrates us. If you can’t reduce your caffeine, take it in along with a meal of slow digesting foods like good fats and fiber, no simple sugars. Caffeine will then be released more slowly in the bloodstream, instead of a bursting onto the scene and giving us a heart attack.

6 – Amp your prayers.

Here it is, the typical emotionalistic point of “Oh just pray about it”. That’s not how prayer is treated in the Bible. We approach God with reverence always, not how people approach Him nowadays as a “buddy” or “Daddy”. No, absolutely not. That is highly disrespectful. “For our God is a consuming Fire” – Hebrews 12:29.

Approach God in humility, letting your requests be made known to Him so the peace that passes understanding will guard your mind. That verse is misunderstood. Because it’s not like you are gonna pray and then “POOF”, your anxiety is gone. Prayer doesn’t magically change the molecular structure of cortisol. But consistent prayer every day, that adds up to make the difference over time.

One workout doesn’t automatically give you abs.
Playing the guitar one time doesn’t make you a virtuoso.
Add consistent prayer to your arsenal, and it will start to shift your thoughts over time.

7 – Stop beating yourself up about it.

I’m strongly anti-constant guilt. I think guilt is a good catalyst to make us want to change, but it shouldn’t be the prime motivator, nor the sustainer of change. Because then we wouldn’t really care about doing right, we would only care about relieving our guilt. So don’t beat yourself up about feeling anxious.

Does the Bible tell us not to be anxious? Yes it does. But it also tells us to avoid a lot of things. They aren’t going to go away instantly on the first day we start trying to change. They can only go away through continual work over long periods of time. Understand you are trying to because less anxious over the long term, and it’s not going to change overnight. That attitude will put you in a Better position to be effective in your quest for change.

Temptation: The Devil’s Hit List

The Devil’s Hierarchy of Temptation. Remember to take everything with a Grain of salt, and always think for yourself.

Christianity is becoming more popular over time. Not “Spartan Christianity”. Primarily certain genres of Christianity like the “Health-Wealth Gospel”, which put the primary focus on the individual instead of on God. Or the emotionalism gospel, which again places the focus on oneself and one’s emotions. One problem with these types of gospel is that they all seem to emphasize ease of living and mental ease or peace of mind. That’s not what we are told in the Bible.

Jesus said he would not bring peace but a sword, and that he would bring division and set relatives against each other. He said we would have to take up our cross and follow him. That does not reflect the ease taught in these popular “gospels”.

We should be tempted constantly.

If we are not tempted, we are not valuable.

And these temptations do not give us mental ease or a constant emotional high.

I have an analogy that I think about with regards to how the devil tempts us. The devil has a hit list where he keeps the most valuable Christians. These are top priority targets. People who are the most valuable to God are the targets for the devil.

Think about how Jesus said to Peter that Satan had asked for him, that he might sift him as wheat. We know Peter, he was a high value target so the devil was willing to see to it personally that he was harvested. Satan lost that target. So there are some targets who are so high priority that the devil himself will tempt them. The prime example, of course, is Christ when the devil directly tempts Him in the wilderness. That’s another time that Satan lost.

I think of temptation in three tiers, or levels:

1) Ways the Devil Himself Tempts us (Active)

2) Ways Low rank or high rank Demons tempt us (Active)

3) Ways we tempt ourselves by our own desire (Passive)

Think of these levels as being normally distributed on a bell curve: most people fall in an around the average. That’s all the bell curve means, that most people are around the normal. In this we are going to say that half of the population falls into the first level.

-This simply means 60% of people are tempted by their own desires (Level 3).

-We will say 39.9% are tempted by various demons (Level 2).

-Only 0.1% of all Christians are so valuable that they make up the Devil’s hit list. These are people who are tempted by Satan himself (Level 1).

People can fall into multiple tiers at the same time. They can be tempted by demons in some cases, and then tempted by their own desires in relation to other sins. No one has to be stuck in one level completely.

Before we jump into the details, remember that this is pure speculation, and the way that I personally think of temptation.

3- We will start with the lowest tier. James 1:13-15 tells us that God doesn’t tempt us, but rather we are drawn by our own desires and enticed. Desire gets pregnant and gives birth to sin, which gives birth to death.

Imagine that, we literally tempt ourselves!

The devil loves this because he doesn’t have to waste time tempting us, nor do we waste the time of his demons. We do all the work for him.

When we place ourselves in situations where know that there will be temptation, we are tempting ourselves. When we crave what is wrong, we tempt ourselves.

-We are trying to stop drinking, but we go to a party where we know there will be alcohol. We convince ourselves that we are just there to ‘hang out’.

–We are trying to stay sexually pure, but we hang out alone with our boyfriend/girlfriend.

-We try to stop using profanity, but we hang out with ‘friends’ who have rainbow vocabularies.

These are just examples of how we do the heavy lifting for the devil by amping up the likelihood of our failure. We desire evil, put ourselves in proximity to that evil, then the desire gets pregnant and eventually we dive headfirst into the behavior we were trying to avoid. This is temptation level 3.

This is passive temptation.

2 – Level 2 is where demons tempt us. This is the thesis of Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. That book is one of the greatest satire works ever written. Screwtape is a high level demon who has many subordinate demons assigned particular targets. The book consists of Screwtape writing letters to one low level demon giving him advice on how to tempt properly.

The demon will give his target all kinds of opportunities to do what is wrong by attacking the weakest points of his nature. He tries to get him to be sexually active. He tries to get him to focus on politics instead of religion. He tries to get him to mistake his lust for love. Screwtape continues to give pointers and strategies, all of which reflect how we ourselves are tempted. Get the book to see how it ends.

Targets who are slightly valuable are targeted by demons who actively try to make them stumble and lose the faith. The demons present them with multiple opportunities for failure, and cater temptations to the weaknesses of their assigned targets. These Christians usually have to be hit in a weak area, or tempted while mentally weak in order for the temptation to be most effective. This is Level 2.

This is active temptation

1 – The top tier is where Satan himself tempts someone. “The Devil has got me!”. We overuse this statement. We attribute every temptation to the devil, as if we are important enough to warrant his full focus. The Bible doesn’t indicate that the Devil is omnipresent, therefore he can’t be multiple places at the same time. If he was omnipresent then why have the demons? Why would you need an army if you can do all the tempting yourself?

The Devil has limited time on earth, and he is not going to waste it on some low level target. The Devil spends his time on the best of the best, like Christ, Peter or Paul for example.

So when we say that the Devil is tempting us, we are probably giving ourselves way too much credit.

Take a good look and the mirror and ask yourself if you are the kind of Christian that would require the full focus of the devil. Odds are that you are not one of the 0.1%

I hear Some Christians brag about not being tempted or the ease of the Christian life.

Really?
You are never tempted?

Anyone who thinks this should consider the fact that they are not worth anything to the kingdom of God. In fact, they are worth so little that neither nor the devil nor his low level demons waste time on this individual. The devil already knows that he already has this person, even if they think they are faithful. These are the “Pew Warmers” who like to clock in and clock out of their Christian walk once a week or so. Those targets do not matter. Do not be a pew warmer.

Also, this Christian is simply a liar attempting to make himself look righteous. These people are also known as modern day Pharisees.

If you find yourself in epic struggle and temptation that does not come from your own desires, you should be glad, you are on the radar of the devil. James tells us to rejoice because of trials and temptations, because the testing of our faith brings forth patience (James 1:2-4). Be glad in temptation. Remember that you are not simply being tempted, you are being given the opportunity to train your patience for the purpose of reaching perfection. If you are not tempted, however, you should consider whether or not you really matter. Make sure you make the Devil’s Hit List.

Discipline

-There is no better fitting characteristic of a disciple than discipline. Discipline says, “I will do what I must without wavering. Regardless of convenience, regardless of how I feel in the present moment”.

-For some reason Christians have it in their head that they have to ‘feel’ a certain way in order to do something. They think they have to feel a certain way in order for their worship to be good or acceptable.

Last time I checked, the quality of our worship is not based on how we feel emotionally in the present moment.

Jesus said that those who would worship Him would do so in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Not spirit and emotion. Not emotion and truth. Spirit and Truth.

Spirit. Truth. These are the disciplines that comprise meaningful worship. Emotion may sometimes be useful, but it is not required. Emotion would be an extremely insecure and unstable foundation on which to base anything, yet for some reason we try to base our worship on these emotions. Jesus said that people would honor Him with their lips but have their hearts far from Him (Matt 15:8). When we focus on our own emotions in worship, we aren’t focusing on God, we are honoring Him with lips while our heart is focused on ourselves. That is undisciplined worship.

The quality of discipline is the ability to force yourself to do something good even when you don’t feel like it. Especially when you don’t feel like it.

There is no ‘when I feel like it’, there is only discipline. No ‘feeling’ like showing up to community outreach day is required, there is only showing up. There is no ‘feeling’ like singing “I’ll fly away” for the eight hundredth time, there is only singing it. You don’t have to be emotional to have a good attitude and to have discipline.

It is for this reason that when God commands us to do things, he doesn’t add caveats that require us to feel a certain way when doing them.

It would be a living nightmare if every time we had to do something we were required to feel emotion. Emotions are just chemical reaction in the brain anyways.

God made us, and He knew we wouldn’t get a dopamine rush every time we do what is right. He knew we wouldn’t be happy every time we sing “In Christ Alone”.

Because that’s what emotion is, a biochemical cocktail in the brain, and it’s not consistent.

We cannot guarantee that chemical mixture every single time we do something, that doesn’t work biochemically.

Sure, there are times when we do what is right and everything lines up perfectly. We feel like doing something, we want to do it and it goes well. Then we feel good afterwards and feel satisfied with what we did. But that doesn’t happen every single time. Sometimes we have to do what’s right simply because it’s what God said. And we must force ourselves to do it with discipline.

We aren’t going to feel like keeping a lot of the commands, and that is why they are commands.

They go against what our flesh wants, they go against what we desire emotionally. This is why we have to deny ourselves. We have to avoid things that are otherwise desirable to our primal instincts.

We are commanded to avoid sexual immorality even though we really want sex with multiple partners. We are commanded to love our enemy, even though we feel like destroying him. We are commanded love our neighbor when we really would rather just ignore him. We are commanded to keep pure speech even though we would rather say every single thing we think.

Think about this: God gives a command that you don’t feel like keeping, but you keep it anyways through discipline.

That is the ideal. This is virtue: To know what’s right and do it even though you don’t want to and even in the face of massive temptation. This is also discipline.

If I feel like keeping the command, then so what if I keep it? I didn’t have to resist or force huge effort into being righteous, therefore I didn’t grow. There is no growth possible in anything without some form of discomfort. There is no discipline in doing what’s right merely when we feel like it. It’s what we do when we don’t feel like it that defines us.

Discipline keeps us faithful even when rationality runs dry.

Discipline keeps us on the straight and narrow. Discipline will outlast logic and reasoning and emotion.

-You aren’t always going to feel like reading your Bible. You won’t feel like singing, praying or being grateful. You won’t feel joyous, calm or enjoy listening to the sermon. Sometimes the only thing you have is discipline.

Discipline yourself to find meaning in the lyrics of the hymn you have sung thousands of times.

The Discipline to focus on the prayer when God “feels” absent from your life.

Discipline to read the Bible every single day without fail, without excuse.

The Discipline to hide the Word of God in our hearts every single day.

Discipline to be grateful even in times of lack.

The Discipline to be joyous in times of suffering.

These aren’t feel good statements, they are what we must do consistently. Every day even when and especially when we do not feel like it. This is discipline.

Christian Persecution?

“And then this guy called me a ‘Bible Thumper’. Boy, we sure are persecuted as Christians.”

“My coworker called me a Jesus freak! I’m just glad I get to suffer for the name of Christ.”

“You Christians are so weird!”
“Wow, I just get called all kinds of names for being a Christian, I’m really having a hard time”.

“They called me intolerant! The struggle is real”.

“Wow, there are gay people out there, and they want us to let them get married! Paul warned us about this persecution, I tell you what!”

Really? Are we serious?

Meanwhile, 2000 years ago men and women wearing that same name of Christ were fed to lions in the Coliseum and it was commonplace. So commonplace that the coliseum was the movie theater of the day. People actually brought their kids to see how many people would die, and how creative their deaths would be.

Christians were crucified by the hundreds by virtue of the name they wore. They dwelt in catacombs, in the tombs of the dead to avoid capture. Their home was the tomb of their rotting Christian predecessors.

The persecution was so massive that Paul advised Christians to remain unmarried in 1 Corinthians 7. Jesus lamented for the women who would be pregnant and nursing in those days of persecution.

The apostle Paul himself was responsible for the death of many Christians. Jews would throw stones at Christians until they were dead. Bashing their heads in with large rocks, breaking bones all over their bodies.

Many times families were forced to watch the deaths of their families before being subjected to the same fate.

Paul would later have his head cut off in Rome for the name of Christ.

John the baptizer had his head chopped of either by sword, ax, or saw. His followers and friends had to retrieve his headless, lifeless body from Herod’s prison and bury it.

Matthew the tax collector was killed by halberd, a spear-like weapon with a large blade portion at the end, at Nadabah in A.D. 60.

The Psychopathic Nero had Christians coated in wax and lit them on fire to illuminate his garden. The smell of burning hair, skin and fat and the screams of human burning seemed to be no problem. His enjoyment of the garden was unaffected, maybe even enhanced. The vile Nero also had Christians sewn into the skins of animals and fed to dogs and other beasts.

Under Roman emperor Domitian in A.D. 81, it is reported that ten thousand Christians were put to death. Ten thousand living humans killed for Christ.

In year 192, Christians were killed by having hot tar poured on their heads, were burned at the stake and were immersed in boiling water until dead.

Today Christians complain about burning their tongue on their $5 coffee.

(Source of Stats)

The things we call persecution in the 21st century are trivial. Absolutely trivial. We aren’t being nailed to crosses. We are not being boiled alive, lit on fire or having boiling tar poured on our heads. No one has their heads severed from their shoulders or gets shot by archer firing squads. Christians aren’t being fed to wild animals anymore.

We get made fun of a little bit, then call it persecution.

We get called a name or two and call it suffering. Reprehensible. We should be thankful for the peace and ease we have.

Is there real persecution out there for Christians? We don’t hear about it in America if there is. Sure, there’s the occasional Church shooter, but that doesn’t mean there is widespread persecution against the Church. There are shootings at secular events as well, Churches aren’t being singled out.

One day there could be true persecution again, but not today. Probably not tomorrow. Humans have actually become more peaceful over time.

The next persecution to arise will purge the weak. It is our job to make sure we aren’t weak, and that we don’t forsake the Church if and when it does arise. We could just as easily forsake the Church. We need to be mentally prepared to stay committed regardless of pain or death.

If there does arise another persecution against Christians, I dare you to find Joel Osteen and his sycophants.

I dare you to find him still “worshiping” God now that it is so longer convenient. I challenge you to find faithful Christians who were a part of the emotionalism movement of the second millennium. Emotionalism will not be able to survive persecution.

Jesus gave a parable about a sower (Matt 13), and one kind of seed fell on stony ground. It came up quickly and died because it had no strong roots. This represented people who would receive the Word with joy and endure for a while. But when persecution arises, they wither to nothing. This is the seed of emotionalism, it rises up then dies when the cross becomes heavy.

Thankfully for those seeds on the stony ground, there is no persecution.

It’s easy to be a Christian in America. No one kills us because we wear Christ’s name. No one crucifies us. Sure, we get called a name or two, or we get made fun of a bit, but that is the extent of our troubles.

We should be careful when we say we are persecuted for the Church or that we are suffering for the name of Christ, because I guarantee you that we do not even know the meaning of suffering.

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